Schumer: Navy destroyer to be named after Irish Immigrant

New York Sen. Charles Schumer says the next Navy destroyer will be named after U.S. Marine Cpl. Patrick Gallagher, an Irish immigrant from Long Island who died fighting in Vietnam.

The Democratic senator made the announcement at a news conference near the Intrepid museum on Monday.

Gallagher came from County Mayo and settled on Long Island in 1962. While serving in Vietnam he was award the Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest military award, for saving his fellow soldiers by diving on a live grenade.

Schumer said he could think of no better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than to say “slainte” (SLAHN’-chuh), Gaelic for health, to the new USS Gallagher.

The Navy said the 509-foot (155-meter) guided-missile destroyer will be built at General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works in Maine.